A Call to War
by Rattlin666666
Summary: A Tale of Revan and the intricacies of the Mandalorian War. Why did he fall? We did he attempt to destroy the Republic? RevXBastilla. Chapter 8 up, last try
1. Chapter 1: A New Day

**This is my first attempt at a Star Wars Fanfic… or a fanfic of any sort. Normally I'm not given to such things, but KOTOR was so awesome I couldn't help myself.**

**Starts before Mand wars…**

**Disclaimer: Blah blah, Lucasarts owns it… ya…**

* * *

Chapter 1: A New Day

"The council will see you now Padawan."

Revan looked up from where he was sitting. "Thank you Padawan," he replied gently.

Despite the assurances he'd received from Malak earlier, he still worried as to what the council could possibly be calling him in for.

He rose slowly from his seat, setting his robes properly as he proceeded through the doors.

He kept his head bowed respectfully, not daring to look at the council members as they sat luxuriating in there great enclave in Coruscant, the heart of the republic.

"Ah, Padawan, we have been waiting for you," said one of the masters. "You may raise your head Revan… I sense the slightest of fear in you… do not be afraid, we merely wish to talk."

Revan slowly rose his head to look at Master Zhar. "Yes master."

"Excellent… would you like a seat? We are going to ask you some questions. We'd like you to answer to the best of your ability."

Zhar gestured to the side, and a seat came floating out to Revan, who opted to remain standing.

"I will do my best, master," replied Revan respectfully.

"Now Revan, you have been in the order for 18 years now. You joined at the age of 1, when your parents were both killed leaving you orphaned.. These 18 years, how would you characterize them? Be honest. Nothing you say will be held against you."

Revan slowly nodded, taking a deep breath. "They have been hard years… Sometimes I wish I were not a jedi… to have a relatively normal childhood… but it doesn't last long. I know that this is for the best, and that being a Jedi is a great honor."

Zhar and several other masters nodded slowly and appreciatively.

Master Vrook spoke from the side. "Revan… do you know what happened to your parents?"

Revan shook his head.

Vrook frowned. "There has been much debate among the council as to whether or not to tell you. Against my better judgment, we have opted to tell you. My personal feelings are well known, but I feel I should explain myself to you. Upon hearing this story, you may wish vengeance upon the party that did this to your parents. With your powers, I have little doubt that you would succeed. However, this would only lead you to the darkside…" Vrook paused to allow Revan to consider this.

Revan stood there for a moment, unwavering, showing no emotion.

Vrook continued by saying, "Your family died on an outer rim world. As nearly as we can tell, the mandalorians showed up and demanded a tribute. Your father and mother refused, and they were killed. The mandalorians never found you, and master Kreia saved you…"

Vrook could feel the anger within Revan build for a moment, his need for vengeance boiling to the surface. Conflicting emotions came over his face, and the council watched eagerly.

Slowly he brought himself under control. He looked up and dropped to his knees slowly. "For… forgive me masters. I could not control myself … but I am in control now. I understand and thank you for what you have told me."

Many council members nodded to him.

"Now, Revan, we have more questions, just answer them as best as you can…"

* * *

Malak watched the remotes move slowly around him. 8 of them, spreading out, all outside of 10 meters.

He felt a slight wave in the force, moving his blade down and to the right as a remote fired a bolt at him. The lightsaber he was using easily deflected it away.

Another one, behind him prepared to fire, and then another one. Malak easily picked off the bolts. More of them fired, and Malak either dodged them or parried them back.

"The turrets are coming online now…" said a computer voice.

Malak instantly started sweating. The room he was in was a lengthy room, over 100 meters long, though less then 30 meters wide. He was at one end with the remotes, while there were turrets, 4 of them, at the far side. The remotes shot un-often, but because they moved they could still be difficult to deflect. The turrets, on the other hand, started firing in a random pattern, firing once every 5 seconds as one. At least at Malaks difficulty stage.

He felt the fire incoming, using his saber to block 2 near shots as he dodged a remote bolt. Being hit by one didn't mean death, but it hurt a lot, as well as acting as a stun bolt… often if you got hit by one a lot of pain was following.

Malak found the turrets tough. They offered a variable that was even farther away, and it took quite a bit of strength to keep track of them.

He continued blocking and dodging for a good 5 minutes before he finally slipped up. 4 turret shots all converged on him at once. He blocked 3, but the forth one got him in his saber arm. His arm instantly went numb, his saber falling from his hand.

The remotes moved in, undaunted, preparing to fire…

* * *

Quickly Revan hit the switch outside to stop the exercise before his friend could come to further harm. The remotes slowly backed off and returned to re-charger stations as Malak breathed a deep sigh of relief before coming to the exit.

He opened the door to see Revan grinning at him.

"Stage 7?" asked Revan.

Malak nodded grudgingly. "Damn turrets."

Revan laughed lightly. "Takes a bit of getting used to… by Stage 9 you'll find they become nearly impossible."

"Hey, we're not all super Jedi's," replied Malak jokingly. "How did the meeting with the council go?"  
Revan shrugged. "They wanted to ask me some silly questions… nothing important really. I trust you spent the time well."

Malak nodded before looking at the chronometer. "Very well, but now I'm off to studies… Master Vandar had some lessons for me."

Revan grinned. "Fun you shall have."

"Hardy har har…" replied Malak.

"Well, I'm at 'liberty' for the rest of the day… I think I'll go meditate for awhile."

Malak gave a nod to Revan before taking off, as Revan headed for the meditation room…

* * *

"_Flow with the force…let it lead you where it wills… the art is not to be forced, but it will instead come to you. Can you feel the force around you? Draw from it, use it, and it shall in turn use you… good… very good my apprentice. Hold it… hold it… you're losing it… no, you've got to keep control…"_

"Sorry master…" said the young Padawan, hanging her head dejectedly. "It's just… so hard. I tire after holding it for awhile."

She glanced up as an older student entered the room, crossing to the other side of the room. He looked over at her, and she jolted as their eyes met, though she never took her eyes off him, and him either. He stopped, half way to the location he was heading for.

Then, slowly he smiled, turned and continued to walk.

"Bastilla? Are you even listening to… oh come now Bastilla, get control of yourself."

She jerked back into reality as Master Roke spoke to her, blushing furiously.

"Sorry master… I was distracted," she said solemnly.

"Well I know that… but remember there is no emotion, only peace…" replied Roke.

"Yes master."

"It's fine Bastilla… I was young once as well, I remember as well," replied Bastilla's master. "Perhaps a break is in order. This room is fairly empty, I have some business to see to. I will return in 15 minutes and we will resume… you may do as you wish until then."

Bastilla nodded at Roke.

"_Well whatever could master Roke be doing?_ _It is of no matter, I should center myself_," thought Bastilla. She continued sitting, attempting to concentrate. But no matter what she did, she kept coming back to seeing that man's eyes… those deep, brown eyes that portrayed so much. Love, peace… power… anger and vengeance…

But she was a Jedi… she should have been able to feel his anger, vengeance… and yet she couldn't… maybe she was imagining it…

Those eyes…

* * *

Revan sat down to meditate, aware that what had transpired back there was something significant. He just didn't know how… or why.

He pushed this aside and began to meditate, dropping into a light meditation, designed to refresh one self.

But something was pushing its way in… a presence.

The Padawan…

Revan did nothing, merely putting up mental blocks into some areas of his brain, while allowing her to explore others…

It was a quick affair, he could tell that she had a decent amount of power for her age… less then a minute later he opened his eyes.

"Padawan," he called out over the room, empty besides them. He saw the Padawan jerk. "Perhaps you'd like to come meditate over here."

He saw her hesitate, unsure.

"Come on, its fine… I'm not gonna hurt you. If you're so curious, just come talk," he called again.

Slowly, she rose to her feet, padding over softly. She was a bit short, but had a beautiful pale complexion that accentuated her fine features. She looked to be in excellent shape, with a very shapely figure which her padawan robbing did nothing to hide… And her eyes… they had been a deep luscious blue… "Sorry Padawan."

Revan grinned. "Revan will do fine… no need for titles. What's your name?"

The Padawan hesitated again, keeping her eyes looking anywhere but his. "Bastilla…"

Revan nodded. "I see… what exactly were you working on with your master in here… something felt different when I came in."

"It was me trying Battle Meditation. I'm told I have great potential in it."

Revan slowly blinked. "Really… that's an advanced course. I understand only Master Roke and Master Vrook have any understanding at all of it, and Vrook is the only one to of mastered it. That's very impressive."

Bastilla grinned devilishly. "Of course it is… I'm an impressive gal…" she said jokingly, still not looking at him.

Revan grinned back. "Impressive enough to have perfect control of her emotions I'm sure."

Bastilla instantly stopped smiling, hanging her head slightly.

Revan waited, hoping she would say something…

"Sometimes we… sometimes we can't help ourselves," she said softly.

"True, and it is those times that let us know we're human… or in other species cases, whatever species they are. We must embrace them in a way… accept that they are there, but not act on them. The Jedi code is flawed in that way…"

Bastilla was silent, until she finally looked up, to look in his eyes. Her mouth gaped open, then closed.

"I… understand," she said softly.

Revan shook his head, laughing softly. "No, you don't. You believe that you do, but in reality, you truly understand nothing." He saw a scowl come onto her face. "err wait, that came out wrong," he continued. "It's not that you individually don't understand anything. I meant it as in **we** understand nothing."

The scowl slowly drifted away. "I… understand… or not I guess."

Revan instantly grinned. "That's the spirit. Now, let's work on getting yourself… centered and your mind… off other things… before your master returns…"


	2. Chapter 2: Words of War

Chapter 2: Words of War

1 year 3 months later

"Congratulations Revan. Welcome to the rank of Jedi knight. And at our youngest age ever!" exclaimed Master Zhar pleasantly.

Revan couldn't help himself. A grin came to his face. However, seeing the Jedi master's around him full out beaming he couldn't help it and broke into the widest smile he possibly could.

"Thank you masters, I won't let you down." He bowed, and the formal assembly broke up and turned into a celebration

Revan knew the celebration would continue for the rest of the night. Whenever a Padawan became a knight, there was always a grand celebration. Revan had attended several, and this one felt more… special. Not just because it was his own party, but because it seemed like there were more people, and it was just a happier occasion…

He felt a rough hand land on his back. He turned to see it.

"Congratulations Revan…" beamed his best friend, Malak.

"Thanks. It's been a long trip, but it was worth it. You'll be a knight in no time," Revan replied.

"Ya well, that little princess is going to beat me to it if you don't stop helping her… she's 2 years younger then me and almost my equal," he said, fairly loudly.

"Princess! Why I never… how dare you call me that!" came an exasperated and indignant voice from behind them.

Malak and Revan chuckled softly as they turned around. "Hey, who said I was talking about you…"

"Well who else is he helping?" Bastilla asked sarcastically.

"Calm down, I'm sure he meant nothing by it… Princess Padawan," said Revan as seriously as he could muster.

Bastilla immediately flushed. "Not you too! Look what you've done Malak!"

Malak and Revan immediately broke out laughing. "Malak, that's a great name for her, why didn't I see it before," Revan said as he turned to look at Malak.

The slightest of looks crossed Malak's face before it disappeared and he just shrugged. "Dunno… listen, I have some business to attend too… I'll catch you later Revan. Cya… princess."

He dodged Bastillas smack and took off.

"So Princess, the night is young. What shall we do?" he asked softly.

She scowled at him. "Don't call me that." She paused. "Do you know what day it is?" she asked quietly.

Revan already knew exactly what she was referring to. What had started 1 year ago this day. "Hmmm… the day I became a knight? No that can't be it, that's to obvious. No idea." If the look she was giving him could have been a lightsaber, he would be in 2 pieces… possibly 4 or 5. "Wowa easy, of course I do… but… it's best not to speak of such things… or really even think of em in this crowd…"

She nodded slowly. "It's… It's so hard to not..."

Revan nodded. "That will pass. Come on; let's get back to the party!"

* * *

"I still say that he is not ready…"

"Well of course you do. You fear he will be our fall!"

"Well he will… his future is clouded with the darkside…"

"He is strong, he will beat it."

"Enough. Been over this enough, we have," said Master Vandar.

Kreia and Vrook bowed there heads to the senior master.

"Merit there is to Vrook's argument. That deny we cannot. However, Kreia's argument, merit it has as well." They both bowed there heads again. "I think however that to hold him here, the darkside we would invite even stronger."

Beside Vandar, Zhar spoke up. "Indeed… he may think we were holding him back, much like many of the younger Padawans are. We must trust in him to take the right path. I do believe that Revan must be sent on this mission. The true issue I see is sending his Padawan friend with him."

Vrook nodded sagely. "I do not believe sending Revan is wise, but there is little other choice. However, sending Malak with him is just asking for trouble. Revan has power, but he is new to his knightship. Let another more experienced knight or even a master accompany him."

Kreia shook her head. "To do that would hurt them more then you know. These are 2 of the most powerful Jedi we have. Although Malak is learning slowly, his potential is vast. Incredible even! To split them up would only hurt them."

Slowly Vandar nodded, as did the majority of the other council members.

Vrook shook his head. "I think this decision is one that will doom us, but I see little choice… send them if we must."

* * *

Revan and Malak walked out of the council chambers, the excitement barely held contained within them. Bastilla could feel the nervous energy that they held easily within themselves. She knew what that meant… They were leaving.

No… he wouldn't… Revan wouldn't leave her. He couldn't. She'd be alone again… no friends… no one.

Even as she told herself this, she knew he was leaving. Her time with him, and even Malak as a friend was drawing to a close. She slowly walked up to them, unable to hide her disappointment.

"You're leaving aren't you," she said sadly.

Revan slipped his arms around Bastilla into a hug, and she could feel him stretch his sense out around, checking for others in the room.

"Yes, we are. We have been given a mission, and we have to carry it out." He slowly pulled back, kissing her on the forehead lightly.

She could feel Malak jerk in surprise.

She pushed him away, roughly. "Fine! Leave me. I didn't want to be around you anyways!" she exclaimed roughly, starting to turn around, before running back and hugging him tightly.

Revan merely stood there, letting her cry herself out on him. He knew how lonely she felt. She had confided in him about what had happened when she was young… how the other children always jeered her, always disliked her for her natural abilities. She was alone aside from him… and he was leaving her.

But she was strong, and she would grow stronger from this. At least… that's what he hoped. She felt so frail in his arms… and he realized again that she was not as strong as one thought… that the face she showed everyone was perhaps just that… a face, hiding a scared young girl…

"We have to go Bastilla… Joe and Joanna will still be here… you can talk to them anytime you desire. I'm sure of it."

She slowly nodded. The two of them were other more distant friends of Revan's who sort of knew Bastilla… At least she wouldn't be completely alone.

She slowly released Revan, who pulled her into one more hug before starting to walk away. Malak stood there awkwardly, looking like he didn't know what to do. She smiled at him, he smiled back.

And then they were gone, as a bad feeling emanated from Bastilla's stomach.

* * *

"What was that all about?" asked Malak.

Revan was silent for a moment. "Nothing…" he said abruptly.

"Revan, this is the first time you've ever kept a secret from me… what is it?"

Revan shook his head. "This is one thing you… you wouldn't understand."

"Wouldn't understand! I understand it just fine!" he said loudly. His voice dropped to a whisper. "You love her don't you."

Revan hesitated for a moment. "Love… is a complicated word."

Malak could see that pushing it would accomplish nothing, so he fell silent. They were going on a mission… they could discuss this later…

* * *

"3… 2… 1…" said Revan calmly as he reached out and pulled the lever back. The ship came out of hyperspace into the outer rim system of Chalwad.

"Holy… holy crap…" was all that Malak was able to say, sitting beside Revan in the co-pilot seat of there small freighter, _Lunar Grace_.

The planet itself was on fire… All around them, pieces of ships floated lazily. In some cases, blackened hulls passed by them.

"What… what happened?" asked a stunned Malak.

"I don't know…" replied Revan, as he brought the shields up and activated the turrets. "But we'll find out. Pull in as much data as you can on the data recorders… see if we can find out what..."

The sensor system started blaring out loudly.

"Contact… 3 Large ships, classified as a Dreadnought and 2 Frigates… They're launching fighters and are on an intercept… ETA 1 minute 15," said Malak beside him, a hint of panic in his voice.

"Calm yourself Malak… Get to a turret, I'll fly the ship… I'm having the navicomp calculate a route out for us…"

Beside Revan, Malak scrambled out and headed aft. Scanning the sensors, Revan read over the bogies… 24 fighters…

The navicomp spat out the co-ordinates… It would take them 5 minutes to reach it because they'd drawn so much closer to the planet… and the fighters would be on them in less then 30 seconds.

So he did the only option left to him. He opened a wide-beam comm channel.

"Attention inbound fighters, identify yourself. This is Jedi Knight Revan aboard the _Lunar Grace_. Identify yourself."

Nothing answered but static. Revan watched as the fighters closed in on them, and braced for impact as they reached firing range…

They didn't shoot. Instead they took up escort positions.

"Attention _Lunar Grace_. This is the Mandalorian vessel _Introvertin_. Stand down and prepare to be boarded. We promise you will not be harmed, and will be allowed to leave freely afterward."

"Very well. _Lunar Grace_ coming about."

He heard Malak descend the gunwale and come forward as he turned the ship back to the _Introvertin_.

"Is this wise?" asked Malak.

"Not in particular… but we don't have much choice… and the one thing I know is that as dirty and horrible as Mandalorian's are, they would never break there word…" he said spitefully.

Malak merely nodded beside him as Revan guided them in and landed inside the ship.

* * *

The door hissed open, and one of the mandalorian guards gave him a slight shove in. They had been 'escorted' up to the bridge by the mandalorians who refused to say anything.

"Ah, Jedi Revan. Good to meet you," said a man in a full suit of armor. "I am Mandalore… and I have invited you here to tell you of some things."

Revan nodded slowly as Malak stepped up next to him. "Proceed."

"Good good… As you know, we mandalorians seek one thing the most… Honor. Most of all, honor in battle. Finding an honorable foe is difficult these days, as most are merely brigands and the like. Tough to make a name for yourself that way. But we have devised of a way to gain great honor…"

Revan understood immediately. "War with the Republic?"

Mandalore nodded. "Very good. Yes, we will be bringing war to the Republic's core worlds soon. But for now we will be hitting the outer rim. I expect us to be attacking the Republic within a standard month. I tell you this freely that you may ready the Republic… we would not want to attack an unprepared foe."

Revan nodded, anger rising within him... this could have been the man responsible for his parents death… "I will do my best to rouse our warriors… but are you sure this is wise? You Mandalorians are strong, but the republic, if roused, will be stronger."

Mandalore rose his hands out as if to encompass Revan. "That is how we gain our honor Revan… Now, you may freely leave. You have 36 hours to leave the system. You may do whatever you feel is necessary until then, including landing on the planet. Goodbye Revan, and may you bring honor to your name."

Revan nodded slowly before turning and leaving.

* * *

They lifted off quickly, and flew down to the planet, quickly scouring the surface to find survivors.

There were none. Over 20 million people on the planet. And not one could be found alive…

Surely they should of felt a disturbance in the force. They must of, but… they didn't… a dark omen to be sure.

21 hours after lifting of from the _Introvertin_, they left the system, bound for Coruscant.


	3. Chapter 3: Revan's War

Chapter 3: Revan's War

1 Year Later

"This… this isn't possible." Revan sat there watching the holovid. It was a live transmission from over the holonet. And it was bad.

Some idiot had led a republic fleet… the 4th fleet, to be precise, into a giant mandalorian trap. The entire fleet had been massacred. A single Cruiser has made it out, piloted by Carth Onasi.

They had been defending Omto, a large industrial planet with powerful shipyards. Video footage showed the planet being glassed basically. Incredibly, they even destroyed the shipyards…

Just like that, a 1/6th of the republic fleet, gone. The 4th had been gathering for a massive counter assault. They had then been jumped in by, as far as analysts could tell, the entire mandalorian fleet, save a few shups. The mandalorians had used superior strategy, continuously splitting the fleet up to be chewed up easily.

It was a massacre…

It was something that could have been averted had the Jedi helped.

"God damn't!" he exclaimed, rising from his seat. "People die while we sit here, waiting."

Malak nodded beside him. "I do not understand the council… it makes no sense. The republic is falling around us, and we do nothing."

"They say they have they're reasons… they must!" exclaimed Bastilla.

Revan turned on her. "WHAT REASON WOULD BE ENOUGH TO ALLOW ALL THESE DEATHS!" he roared angrily at her. His face was red with anger, and the look in his eyes cut Bastilla to the core.

She cowered away, raising her arms as if that could defend her from his wrath…

Instantly the anger disappeared from Revan, replaced by concern. "Oh no… oh I'm so sorry. I… I couldn't help myself," he said as he drew her into an embrace.

"I'm sorry," Bastilla said quietly.

"Don't be… you were in the right, I was in the wrong… but something will change. Something has to change."

Bastilla remained quiet.

A knock came at the door. Instantly they returned to there seats, acting as if nothing happened as the door swished open.

"Bastilla, it's time for your lessons." Bastilla rose, bowed to Revan and Malak before leaving.

When she was gone and the door secured shut, Malak turned to Revan. "Just what is going to change?" he asked simply.

"We are," Revan replied matter of factly, rising. "Or at least I am. Follow and I'll tell you."

* * *

"Revan, you wished to speak to us?" asked Master Vrook. The council had convened again upon insistence from Revan.

"Yes… yes I did. Tell me Masters. Why… why are we allowing this war to continue? Millions are dying. Entire worlds are dieing. We could stop it… we could stop the dying. And yet all you do is profess patience, never explaining. Well, my patience is at an end. Tell me now, and **I** will decide."

The entire council sat stunned for a moment. "How DARE you speak to us that way!" said Vrook. "You have no right to question us…"

Revan remained quiet, but defiant.

"Calm, Master Vrook remain," said Master Vandar beside him. "Answers you seek… but knowledge of these answers, have, we do not."

Revan stood stunned for a moment. "You mean… you had NO reason to stay out of the war?"

Vandar shook his head. "No no. Plenty of reason. Answer to question you posed, we have not."

Beside Vandar Zhar continued with, "Something about this war is not right... We know too little. It could be that we come into this fight, but are too weakened to hold off the next threat. That is why we must remain aloof of the conflict. When a greater power comes, and we all believe one shall, we will be able to stand and defeat it."  
Revan shook his head. "This is wrong… this is like wondering if you locked the 5th bolt on the backdoor when the front is wide open… if we don't act, we will be swept away by THIS conflict."

"You may choose to believe that… but the council thinks otherwise. Now that you're finished wasting our time, I feel that we should return to our tasks," said Vrook coldly.

Revan shook his head. "We're not done. Or at least, I'm not done."

Master Kavar brought his head up, understanding instantly. "You wouldn't dare…"

The confusion emanating off the others was apparent to Revan. "I would, and I will… I will leave you with this thought. If it is of the darkside to kill something, then isn't it of the darkside to sit and do nothing while something is killed. Goodbye masters. May the force be with you."

With that, Revan turned and strode from the Council room as Malak fell into step.

* * *

"Of course I will accompany you. It's about damn time something was done."

"And I will as well."

"Excellent… meet me at the _Teltic_ in 3 hours. That's our ride. Recruit anyone else you can," replied Revan calmly.

Joe and Joanna bowed and started walking away.

"That's over 20 jedi you've recruited Revan… Have you been planning this for awhile?"

He shook his head. "No… I'm not the only one who feels this way. It's just that… hold that thought," he said as he felt a presence… an angry presence approach from behind.

"You… you… you're leaving again," came the voice quietly.

Revan slowly turned to face Bastilla. "Yes I am. I am going to do what I should have done a long time ago."

"It's not right. You should abide by the council."

Revan shook his head. "I can't… not anymore."

"Please Revan... please," she said as a tear streaked from her eye.

"No…"

"Then I shall follow you my lo…"

"No you shall not." Revan hesitated, knowing what he must do. There must be some other way… but no there wasn't…

Anything he said, she would find a hole. Failing that she would just come anyways. She was far to headstrong… even for her own good.

"Listen… I've gotta come clean with you now that I'm leaving... This 'connection' you claim to have… I don't feel it. There's nothing there… I just have been telling you to bring a bit of happiness to your… your miserable life. I've just taken pity on you, being all alone. I almost can't stand you, you're so indignant, and such a little brat… But I've had enough. I don't want to have to live with your constant chattering in the middle of battle. Stay here Bastilla… you're not wanted."

She looked into his eyes… he saw more tears streak from her eyes even as he made his eyes as cold and merciless as he could.

She turned and ran away, and he could hear her sobs from there.

Oh how it broke his heart… if she only knew. But it was best for her. Where he went, there would only be darkness… He could feel it. Not the darkside… but just… a dark horribleness.

He could feel Malak's eyes on him. He glanced at his friend. He was scowling deeply, but it softened when he saw tears come streaking from Revan's face.

"Good… good lord. You didn't just do what you think I did!" he said softly.

Revan nodded. "Yes I did… it's for her own good. She'll survive and be stronger. Now come, let's go before I change my mind."

* * *

The ship left 2 hours later, full of 50 odd Jedi. There were a few knights, Revan and a few older ones, though it was mainly Padawans, including Malak, Joe and Joanna.

It reached coruscant 2 hours later, where they were greeted with cheers and parades. People openly wept on the street for the Jedi. They would come up and profess there thanks at all times.

Thus it continued for a long time. Weeks spent in limbo as no one important would see them. The Jedi council must have sent word ahead, and was blocking any effort by them to help…

It frustrated Revan to no end. More were dying. And here the Jedi Council was keeping them from helping, politicking away, just like the damn senate.

* * *

Eventually, Revan grew fed up, merely taking Malak and marching right into the Senate Offices. The guards attempted to stop him, but they found themselves constrained by the force, and it wasn't long before he was at the High Chancellors door. There, instead of barging in like many who had seen the Jedi's trip to the office would of thought he'd do, he merely knocked and waited.

A moment later the door opened, and they were grudgingly admitted.

The Chancellor looked up from his desk. "Greetings Jedi Revan… or is it merely Revan now? I hope your trip and stay were pleasant?" asked the Chancellor politely, even as his high general, general Mailine scowled at them.

"Revan will do sir, and no, our trip was not very pleasant High Chancellor… we heard of the attack on Dxun, and we've languished here for weeks."

The general's scowl deepened. "The republic beat it off the attack. We inflicted casualties. We have a handle over this. Don't think you can just come in here and take control."

Revan shrugged to malak. "Lets cut the pleasantries. General, you don't want us here because it took us so long to join and you resent it. Well, we were following the council. I'm sorry it took us so long to see the light, but you are losing this war. Anyone can see that. The senate is playing with the budget as the military starves for money. They interfere with your commanding. While I have no doubt you're a great general, the senate is cutting you off from being able to act. That is why I have a proposal for you."

The general and High Chancellor slowly nodded.

"It's simple. We create an emergency war measures act. In essence, it ceded total control of the military to the High Chancellor. The military budget is held onto, and cannot be reduced until the war is over. High Chancellor, you will turn control of the military operations over to me…" Before the general could protest, Revan said coolly, "It's important it's me and not you General, because they will not pass it with you. I'm aware you tried to pass a similar act before. With me, they will be giving it to a Jedi, one who has, not to brag, mastered strategy. Check over my datafile. You will see that I am fit to command anyways. You will still be a general, with most of the powers you have now, save that I will handle the overall strategy. I already have one ready."

The High Chancellor nodded. "I may be able to pass this act… I see it as a workable plan."

Now the only obstacle left was the general. If he said no, the Chancellor would probably not go ahead with it. He could see the conflicting emotions rising on his face.

"I… I guess we don't have much choice. You're correct, the republic will collapse if something doesn't change."  
Revan nodded to him before bowing.

"Good, we will make our plea next meeting. In the meantime, gather as many ships as you can at Ordo. It will be where they strike next."

The general paled. "Ordo… are you sure?"

Revan nodded. "No doubt of it… It will be an epic battle… But you have a week, maybe 2. They will be pausing to gather probably 3-4 days in advance, so when the attacks stop… know that you haven't much time until the fight begins."

The general nodded. "Very well sir…"

Revan blanched for a moment. "I'm surprised your taking this so well general."

The general nodded at him. "I may be old, and you may not think much of me. But I know when I hear good advice and a sound strategic mind… I would be honored to have you lead me."

Revan gravely bowed at the general. "And an honor to lead a fine man as you… May I just say though, that I do not think little of you. I think you have done as good so far as can be expected. We will merely take this fight to the next level." Revan grinned maliciously. "Much to the Mandalorians demise I fear."

* * *

"_How could he… how could he do this to me… I thought he loved me. I thought we had something._"

Bastilla lay on her bed sobbing quietly, careful to keep her presence contained so no other Jedi would sense it.

"_It's easy… he was right to pity you. You're nothing, an ant. You didn't deserve him…_" came back the cynic part of her mind.

"_No…that's not true… I loved him. That means something_."

Her cynic mind didn't answer. Her rational, cool mind already had the answer to the idea she had made…

Because evidently it did not matter. And so she continued to lie there, until at last there were no more tears to cry.

And so she made a pact with herself.

"_Never again… Never again will I ever allow myself to be so vulnerable. Damn Revan to hell, I will never love him, or anyone, ever again!_"

But she knew inside, that she still loved him, and would continue to… and it made her start to cry again…


	4. Chapter 4: Escalation

Thanks for the reviews... i was concerned about the bastilla/revan thing being to short as well... while this chapter won't explore it, I'm going to go in much deeper detail... i was tired when i finished it and just wanted to throw it up... Anywho, enjoy this one... trying my hand at some action writing.

* * *

Chapter 4: Escalation

3 days of pure hell…

Sending men and woman to their deaths…

Watching as the lifeless bodies piled up…

Fear…

Anger…

Vengeance…

Pain…

So much pain…

Revan took a deep breath… and almost threw up at the stench. He would of… save he'd already vented the contents of his stomach over the past 3 hours as he trekked across the battlefield, searching for any remnants of soldiers…

The smell… he could handle the smell. It wasn't that which made him throw up… It was the emotions.

They hung thick as a fog over the entire surface of the planet. Oppressive emotions… emotions of the darkside. A force sensitive who was untrained would likely go mad in the area… several soldiers were reported too of during and after the battle. Even trained Jedi could have trouble keeping the emotions in check... Potential problems for the future…

* * *

From the start, the battle had been a disaster. Due to political bickering, it had taken 12 days to convince the Senate to pass the bill… 

In fact, as he had left, reports had filtered in that the battle had begun. It was a 12 hour hyperspace journey from Coruscant to Ordo. 12 hours…

The republic commander on site had been a political appointee… some senators son…

And a complete MORON….

He had lead from the front thankfully, and so was taken out of action early enough that his subordinates, who were not incompetent, were able to salvage the battle enough to drag it into a draw... though it was barely a draw as the republic forces fought a losing battle…

Despite the fact that the republic began with overwhelming force…

Despite the fact the mandalorians should have been brutally crushed…

Only his arrival had saved the day, bringing the _Leviathan_, the biggest heaviest ship to ever be made as far as anyone knew, and several escorts. This would of seemed to pretty much even the odds in the battle.

Of course, it was far from that. The arrival of Revan tipped the favor to the republic, and badly…

All the other ex-Jedi's had come to Ordo 5 days previously save Revan and Malak. They had been sent to the surface to guard against a land incursion, with Joe being placed in command.

And man… man had that ground incursion come.

Before the political general had been killed, hundreds of transports had been able to slip by, dropping troops, battle droids, and everything else to the ground. Common military logic states that you need a 3 to 1 advantage in strength if you're the attacker. With the Mandalorians against the Republic, they could get by with having ½ as many men… if that.

The force they dropped on planet was EQUAL in numbers to the number of republic soldiers stationed on the ground. Only the Jedi, whose ranks had swelled from 50 to over 300 over the course of the 2 weeks, had kept it from being a total defeat. As it was, over 150 Jedi died. And of the remaining Jedi, 50-60 were still unaccounted for; though hopes were high they were alive. Worst of all, the republic had a 98 casualty rate in its men… 70 fatality rate. The mandalorians were wiped out anywhere they showed themselves… but at a huge cost. Only the bringing down of additional troops as the battle progressed allowed the final eradication of them.

* * *

In space they fared little better. The Mandalorians had brought in roughly 60 capital ships. They faced well over 120 Republic ships. While on ground the Mandalorians had a huge advantage, in space that advantage wasn't as large… it was more like 3 mandalorian ships were 4 Republic ships… 

Of course, in the first 3 hours before the political general died 46 republic ships were lost, and 19 more died over the next 9 hours in exchange for a mere 14 mandalorian ships…

Revan had salvaged the battle best as he could. Over the next 63 hours they had kept up a battle... 63 hours straight. As time went on and the Mandalorians realized they were losing, they quickly killed the single interdictor cruiser Revan had left and fled the battle…

43 mandalorian ships dead…

28 republic ships still operational… and of that only 10-15 were actually combat ready.

The only reason the mandalorians had retreated was that pretty much every one of there ships were no longer combat operational…

It had been ferocious…atrocious

* * *

Revan eventually gave up searching on foot… 

In this place of death, he wouldn't need to be that near really to sense a particular life. For right now, he wasn't really searching for soldiers… he was searching for Jedi. There were still 20 Jedi missing… including Joe and Joanna… Revan was beginning to worry. What could be so bad as to cause them to not be able to contact him after all this time…

So now he was flying in a fighter over the landscape, searching for them… anytime he sensed a flicker of life he would log the location and medical teams would be summoned to it. Other Jedi were also given ships and were searching the planet.

It would take months to find there bodies if they were dead… there were so many bodies that there just weren't resources to find them.

Ahead, a presence… a faint one… but one which knew the force. And another one beside it. They were very tired minds… clearly they lacked the strength to call for aid.

They were in a facility, and Revan sensed other beings down there with them…

There were some republic soldiers, a few at least… but most of all, just what he was hoping for…

Some mandalorians.

* * *

Revan already had the canopy popped before it had even landed and was climbing out as he used the force to shut down the engines. He was running towards the door as fast as his force-enhanced legs would take him. As he reached the doors he activated his 2 lightsabers and quickly sliced through the locked down door, proceed down towards the activity… 

The facility had been an Orbital Defense Gun… but it had been reduced to scrap. Thankfully, the crew was kept down low and under the ground safely…

That's where the republic and Jedi had taken refuge. He felt anguish come off the 2 Jedi as a Republic soldier fell, leaving 3 soldiers with the Jedi versus over 20 mandalorians…

"_Hang on brethren, I am coming_," he sent to them through the force, unable to know if they received it.

He willed himself faster…

* * *

He was fading fast… Joanna had no doubt of it now. He still stood at the front, barely under cover, using his saber to try to deflect as many shots back as he could… but he… Joe, moved sluggishly. He was bleeding from many places, was scarred with many blaster shots… but was to tired to access the force to heal himself, just like herself. The 3 remaining republic soldiers were trying there best to keep a barrage of fire up, but the mandalorians would pick them off 1 by 1 until all that remained were the Jedi… 

She felt the fatigue pulling at her limbs as she vainly felt for a pulse of Idanian… she couldn't even use the force… she was too tired.

"he's gone…" she said, anguish in her heart. She felt Joe feeling the same emotion… Idanian had befriended them. He had been the commander of this Orbital Gun, and had shown his loyalty to his men to the last… placing them before orders… He had earned there respect through his actions… he had been a friend. But a stray blaster bolt had snuffed him out, just like the hundreds of other soldiers at this Facility…

Soon they would join them.

"_Hang on brethren, I am coming_!"

Joanna shook at that voice… A Jedi was coming to help them… perhaps they would not fall.

She saw Joe do the same. He laughed, then proceeded to yell out at the Mandalorians, "Uh oh… you boys are gonna get it now…" he said mockingly as he blocked another blast.

And she immediately cursed Joe…

The mandalorians were not stupid… they would know reinforcements were coming. They knew they would be trapped…

So instead of this long, drawn out battle they'd have to end it fast…

"_Whoever you are, hurry…_" she willed silently…

And of course, within 10 seconds the mandalorians were up and charging…

* * *

Revan felt one of the Jedi trying to broadcast a thought, but the persons mind was so fatigued that he couldn't understand it. However, there was a sense of urgency to it, and as much as possible Revan increased his speed. The elevators were broken so he was stuck using the stairs, and they were over 80 levels beneath the surface… a lot of running… 

He covered the distance quickly as he could, jumping down whole sets of staircases.

And then a horrible pain reached out to his heart and squeezed it… a Jedi had fallen.

* * *

The second they started charging Joe had immediately rose from cover, using his saber to block the bolts, reflecting them best as he could. The first 2 mandalorians went down to a combo of blasterfire and his returned bolts… Joe couldn't tell. However, with less then 20 meters to cover, they covered it rapidly, stopping at around 8 meters were the corridor spread out enough to allow 6 of them to stand side by side. They immediately opened fire. 

Joe felt Joanna move up to help him, even as he desperately tried to block there shots. 4 of them rushed forward, vibroswords in hand as more filled in the rank of blaster firers. A simple swipe took the first mandalorian out of commission, but it overextended his blade. He brought it back to block a blaster bolt, but was a fraction to late.

Searing pain exploded in his right side. He took a moment to shunt aside the pain, which took a lot of concentration even as he parried the next vibrosword swing…

Just in time to take a bolter shot in the chest.

Pain exploded there, and this time he couldn't find the energy to shift it aside.

He felt Joanna suddenly cry out in anguish… not of physical pain, but of mental pain…

A sudden warm stickiness could be felt in his chest. He looked down…

A vibrosword was sticking out of him… But he couldn't feel a thing… He watched in fascination as the blade slowly pulled itself out of him. He slashed out with his saber, finding it impossibly heavy, striking off the head of his killer.

This drained the last of his strength. Dropping his saber to the ground, he fell down to his knees, and then fell the rest of the long way to the ground…

It all went dark.

* * *

She saw the sword puncture into Joe, and felt anguish burrow into her heart. She watched, with a detachment that was very Jedi like, as he calmly killed the mandalorian, before dropping to the ground. 

Letting out a scream of rage, and suddenly feeling extremely powerful, she charged at the mandalorians, blocking there laserbolts. As she closed to striking distance with the first mandalorian, she pushed out at him with force strength she no longer knew she had. Instantly the 2 remaining mandalorians went flying away, clattering into there companians behind them. The other opened fire, and at this close range, she wondered how Joe had ever managed to block them all for so long. She struggled to block them, knowing that to advance would mean she'd die, but she couldn't hold here forever. She reached out at Joe with the force…

And her new found power was gone… gone with the rage that was no longer there, replaced by despair…

* * *

He felt the second Jedi's rage grow, and felt as they pulled in Dark side energies, flinging them at the mandalorians. And just as quickly, he felt it fade, replaced with despair, a person ready to die… 

Not if he could help it. He dropped to the level they were on, bursting through the door. Ahead, he could see where the mandalorians stood. He let out a loud yell to attract there attention as he brought out his 2 lightsabers. He easily reflected there bolts, and he saw 4 mandalorians pull there blades, readying for combat…

He fell one of his blaster toting foes with over 20 returned blaster bolts… he did have to admit, as horrible as they were, they took a lot to put down. He reached the first mandalorian shortly after that, knocked his blade aside and running him through as he went onto the next one. Parrying the slash with his left, smaller saber, he chopped the head off oh him as he used the force to knock 4 others down.

He paused to stasis lock 5 others as the mandalorians strived to recover from this assault from the rear.

He now knew who the jedi were now… Joanna stood off to the side, fighting with 2 of the mandalorians while the republic soldiers shot it out with a single mandalorian…

Which meant he knew exactly who was on the ground… still alive but dead for sure soon. He pushed the emotion he felt aside.

Leaving 12 mandalorians to him.

No problem.

He threw his shorter left lightsaber at the 4 he had knocked down, using the force to control it and rip through them even as he blocked the blaster shots of the others. They're screams of agony ripped loudly through the corridor. He closed to the 3 that were un-stasised and alive. One of them wore special armor… obviously a leader. They all brought out there swords and moved to encircle him…

"_Like that would help,_" he said to himself, grinning madly.

The one on the left struck out. He easily blocked it, but didn't follow up. He sensed that the other 2 expected that, and would have been on him.

Instead, he went to the one on his right, double tapping his sword with his sabers, as he elbowed him in the helmet hard. The man instinctively brought his hands up, and Revan simply finished him off by slicing him in ½ at the waist as he turned to the remaining 2. He sensed his stasis beginning to wear off at the same time. Jerking towards the 2 mandalorians in front of him as a feint, he immediately dropped back as he turned and threw his lightsaber, beheading every one of them neatly.

Of course, the other 2 were fast, instantly closing. He turned, blocked with his single saber quickly as he reached out to catch his remaining saber.

Catching it, he ran the second mandalorian through, leaving the leader.

The mandalorian leader raised his sword in a ½ salute. He felt Joanna finish off her opponents. She turned to the republic soldiers… make that soldier now, who was shooting it out with a mandalorian and moved to finish him.

"Surrender…" offered Revan simply

The mandalorian responded in the cold metallic voice, "There is no honor in that… come Jedi, you have skill… Let us fight."

Revan shook his head inwardly, as he instantly charged in. Easily pushing the saber aside, he cut the man in literally a dozen places… but none fatal.

"Your men killed a good friend of mine… I hope you realize you deserve worst," he said softly as the mandalorian slowly fell to the ground, breathing heavily. "It's a good thing that Joanna is busy stalking your last man, or she'd come over here and do somenastycrap to you… As it is, I'll simply run you through."

He shut off his short lightsaber as he stood over the mandalorian.

He rammed his main one right through his heart as hard as he could.

The sheer joy of it ran through him… the bastard was dead… he deserved worst…

No… no that was wrong. Killing was a last resort. No one deserves what he just did to that man…

Or did they?

Revan turned away, disturbed by his own thoughts, going over to Joe quickly. Joanna was returning as well with the last Republic soldier, having slain their last foe.

He was unconscious… he would die, there was no doubt… Revan slowly sent the force through and into him, doing his best to ease the pain…

Joe's eyes suddenly shot open. He slowly smiled. "Re… Revan, you came," he said quietly.

"Of course I did… I'm sorry Joe…"

He shook his head, the move evidently paining him. "Do… Don't be. You… you did what you…" he paused as he coughed, blood slowly spurting up. "had too…" He saw Joanna behind Revan. He looked at her. Revan stepped back, allowing Joanna to come closer. "I'm… I'm sorry Joanna… I must… confess something…" he said, his breathing laborious, his punctured lungs bubbling as he struggled to bring air into them." I… I…" he was struggling with the words…

"I know Joe… I love you too…" said Joanna softly as tears creeped from her eyes. Joe nodded once, before closing his eyes, becoming one with the force…


	5. Chapter 5: Darker

Chapter 5: Darker

Oh how she loathed them…

Nay… loathed them was the wrong word… Joanna hated them… she wanted nothing but to wipe them from the face of the galaxy…

Those bastards had taken Joe from her… she had broken the jedi code for him… and now he was gone…

"Easy Joanna…" said Revan softly as he held her softly. "I can feel your anger… but you must let go of it."

She sobbed again into his shoulder. "I know… but I can't."

Revan sighed but said nothing.

"Now I know how Bastilla must feel… I can't believe what you did to her," she said suddenly, trying to blot out the memory of Joe.

"Jo… Jo I…" he paused. "I don't really want to talk about that."

But she realized she had hit upon something her. She reached out to Revan, trying to understand… but he easily kept her attempts to get in his head away… "Revan… what is it?"

He said nothing for awhile, and Joanna was preparing to drop it when at last he said, "She wouldn't listen."

"What?"

"She wouldn't listen. She wouldn't of understood. No matter what, she would of come. She would have been corrupted... turned from a pure angel to a dark creature… she may not have fallen… but she would have been changed."

At last she understood what Revan was saying. "You don't have to keep everything to yourself… you don't have to shoulder it all."

He nodded once at her, wiping a tear away. "I knew… I knew deep down that from this war, horrible things were going to happen… That this war was going to be unlike any war before. Not that we would fall or anything… but that we would all be changed. That is why I only took volunteers. I wish that I could of told everyone the truth… but if I did, the republic would fall. A Jedi's life is pain, and pain is something we'll all have to accept for the republic… for life itself. What I could not bring myself to do was to subject her to this… I very nearly couldn't bring myself to subject you to this. But I think I know you… I think even if you knew, you'd of come."

Joanna nodded simply, confirming his suspicion, and Joanna felt a great relief pour out from Revan.

"But you see… Bastilla is… hard headed, and she is willing to take on other's pain. But she is not ready. She is to susceptible to her emotions… her masters are correct on many points for her. If… If she were to die… or even fall… I would… I don't know what I'd do, because I wouldn't be the person you see here… I'd be someone different… someone…"

"Darker," Joanna said softly.

Revan nodded. "Yes… I couldn't handle it like you are… if she died, I would of crushed every man, woman and child responsible, and probably of lost everything else because of it."

Joanna dropped her head sadly. "I want to do that… the anger inside me… it is a well that I could use to crush the mandalorians. They would be as nothing in front of me, and my veangeance would cut a course across the universe…

"But then I would give up everything that is me… everything that Joe loved… that I loved… I just can't do it."

Revan hugged her tightly again. "You're a stronger woman than I Jo… much stronger."

* * *

**1 month later**

"Focus… focus… come on now padawan, you're better then this!"

Bastilla tried as best as she could to keep her concentration, but again Master Roke broke through her defenses, causing her to cry out softly as it delivered a stinging blow to her thigh with the stunsaber, a sword that was similar to the lightsaber save it merely stung when struck against a person.

Her master deactivated the sword slowly, shaking his head as he reached to put his arm on her shoulder. "Bastilla… you haven't been the same for awhile… what's the matter."

She pulled back tightly. "Nothing Master…" She saw he wasn't buying this, so continued with, "It's just this war… all of this news, of jedi, the republic winning… or Revan. It's distracting." _More so the Revan than anything else_.

"Well, I suggest you pay no heed to that… there are no jedi, merely exiles in that war. Revan should be nothing to you…" he replied curtly. "Since it is clear you are not in the right state of mind, I suppose you may have the day to yourself… try to center yourself for tomorrow Padawan."

She bowed slightly. "Yes, Master." She bowed again before leaving and returning to her room. But she would not be centering herself… not today. She just couldn't draw the attention to it. Couldn't find the will…

What she wanted to do more then anything was to fly off, and murder that bastard Revan. If she didn't, she'd never find peace. Her thoughts constantly hounded at her… making her wonder where it was she went wrong. Any conversation she could remember, she must of played it out in her head at least a dozen times… she had played out they're final conversation hundreds of times, looking for a secret flip word… a word that would change it to mean something else… but she couldn't find it.

The only way this would ever stop was if Revan was gone… with him gone, she'd no longer have to worry about it, right? She could return to normal, go on to be a great jedi…

But if she killed him, she wouldn't be a jedi anymore… so instead she was forced into hoping that the mandalorians got him… doubtful as that may be. If she wanted something done, she'd have to do it herself…

Perhaps she could find a way to take a leave of absence… Find Revan… get him to attack her somehow, and then kill him…

Impossible to accomplish… she knew that… didn't mean she couldn't dream…

Her anger was deep… but she could control it. No one need ever know of her hate for that man….

No one.

* * *

"This is utterly ridiculous… they revoked the act! What do you mean they revoked the act! We're finally winning and now they seek to pull the rug out from beneath us!" screamed Revan at the lowly ensign who had relayed the message, who visibly cringed beneath him. "It's the god damn senate… corrupt, senile fools…" 

Malak stepped forward beside him. "Easy Revan… you had to know this would happen… you're winning… but only because you're doing things that are political suicide… the politicians are being lynched by there people… though that's really quite minor…"

Revan nodded. "I know… our method is meaning those corrupt fools can't reap great benefits…"

Malak stood there as he continued. "And they must feel you have the situation under control… you've pushed them from the deep core in just the past month…"

Revan shook his head. "You know as well as I do that it will merely get worse the farther out we get… They're still powerful in the core worlds. And we were lucky to push them out of Khomm… It's a good thing they came from the direction they did, or they'd of had coruscant before we even came into the war. I don't know how we'll win this."

"we will merely have to be better."

Head held dejectedly, Revan merely nodded.

"Sir, we're 2 minutes from coming out of hyperspace."

At this Revan perked up. "Fleetwide general quarters… this is gonna be bad."

But there was no time to dwell on this as they came out of hyperspace into the planetary system of Belgaroth, deploying fighters and opening fire within seconds.

"3 Mandalorian Fire Class Cruisers, 1 Destructor class battleship and… holy shit, 32 Mandalorian Annihilation class Destroyers…"  
Revan paled… that was much larger then he expected, considering this was a minor Class Epilson planet, unimportant for anything… He had his _Leviathan_, and it was easily a match for the destructor battleship and 1 or 2 of those cruisers… he had a single Battlestar cruiser, and 24 Destroyers of basic makes…

he was outgunned, outmassed, outarmored… this was gonna get nasty.

Revan slowly grinned… he loved nasty…

"Helm, come about to .324, all ahead. Have the _Lion's Den_ and Cluster A come in right behind us. Cluster B, right flank, try not to get in close. Same with C, except they're on left flank. D is on general reserve, and have our torpedo groups group up to fire…" Revan paused for a moment, then placed a nav point down… "At Location Charlie 4."

"Roger sir." The ship thrummed loudly as the powerful engines brought it up to flank speed, his battlestar cruiser, _Lion's Den_ hot on his tail, with his 5 heaviest destroyers, Cluster A, closing up.

He watched as the mandalorians split up into umbrella formation. That would make it tougher to get them bunched up so the torpedo ships could get off a good barrage… he'd have to sacrifice a few ships but it was doable.

"Have Cluster B and C cut to ¼ throttle. Bring D up closer. E, set your torpedoes to target Beta 6." He dropped another navpoint on the radar.

"Sir, that will put us right in the middle of them. Right where they want us" said the captain, Saul, worriedly.

"I am aware of that captain…" he said, slightly annoyed. Saul said nothing.

Inexorable slowly, the ships closed.

The _leviathan_ rocked as another blast shook it. Behind them, floating lazily through space in several pieces were 2 of his destroyers. And the _Lion's Den_'s shields were down, and was taking a pounding… he either won now or he'd lose. But he was running from the mandalorians, and they were getting bunched up.

"Communications, tell cluster E to fire all torpedoes at Beta 6. I repeat, fire torpedoes. Reload, then fire a second wave at our present location. Then have them move closer and prepare for standard combat."

He turned away without waiting to hear the comm. Officer order E. Timing was everything here. B and C were waiting to smash in on the sides, and D could reinforce them within under 30 seconds, and enter the fight if it was needed…

The torpedoes were still a minute away, and the mandalorians had to be drawn a good deal more bunched up and closer… While not locking the torpedoes onto the targets made it possible several would miss, with enough warning, ships could easily either avoid a torpedo or shoot down a torpedo. This way, they'd have under 15 seconds to do anything about the torpedoes, as about 15 seconds from impact, they would activate they're own radars and select a target… unlikely the mandalorians would be able to stop more then a handful then hitting, and over 40 torpedoes were heading towards them from the first wave, and a second wave of 40 was coming… less of those would hit as they would be alerted to the torpedoes by then, but he expected horrendous casualties among them.

The _Leviathan _shook again, and another destroyed exploded brilliantly, but at last he saw the mandalorians see the torpedoes… the pounding on the _Leviathan_ paused a moment as ships turned to shoot he torpedoes, or maneuvered to avoid it…

Not one of the ships that a torpedo locked onto avoided it.

A standard torpedo's missile guidance systems were poor, easily confused… their explosion was not that big either, enough to say, strip the shields from a light destroyer.

These were not normal torpedoes… Not only were these torpedos guidance systems upgraded…. Though only slightly, and the warheads on them were increased incredibly… to the point where just 2 would destroy a destroyer…

Of course, they were expensive, and he had fired all the ones he had on hand in that one first wave, the second one being regular torpedoes…

Best of all, Revan was able to use the force to help aim them, making sure they struck home. It took a lot of effort, but he was able to push any torpedoes in the right direction… a little trick Malak had thought of… he'd have to thank him for that.

Within seconds of the torpedoes arriving, 17 destroyers were wiped out, 2 of the Fire class cruisers exploded brilliantly, and best of all, the destructor's shields failed, and its entire structure cracked… it was out of the fight, but still salvageable.

The remaining destroyers in the killzone, 5 of them, and the fire class cruiser slowed down, obviously fearing a second wave… The 2 destroyers that were heavily damaged drifted slowly forward as well…

Revan frowned. He'd expected them to slow yes, but more then they had… as it was, only the rear destroyer and the 2 damaged destroyers would be cause by the torpedoes…

"Order Cluster B and C to pull in to us, get away from their remaining destroyers. Cluster D is to get in here and prepare to hit them with everything they have… about face our force, time for the close quarters battle," Revan said grimly.

* * *

A crushing defeat of the Mandalorians. Malak smiled proudly as he watched his good friend walk off the bridge, finished with the battle. The entire mandalorian fleet had been wiped out, in exchange for a mere 7 destroyed Republic destroyers, the _Lion's Den_ being damaged, and 2 other destroyers also being damaged. They were even going to get to salvage 2 or 3 destroyers out of the wreckage, and a greater prize, the Destructor Battleship… it would be awhile before they were operational, but every bit helped… 

He turned to congratulate his friend… but he sense he was in no mood for that. Something was eating at him. He wanted to talk to him… but as of late, he had becoming more and more distant from him…

Malak didn't understand what bothered Revan so much… the deaths were sad, he supposed, but they weren't horrible… just the cycle continuing, the strong praying on the weak…

Now they were the strong, not the mandalorians… isn't that the way it should be? They would crush them like ants…

And with them gone… what was the republic to them?

He laughed at that thought, and a soldier walking by looked at him weirdly. In flash of anger, Malak very nearly drew his lightsaber and decapitated the soldier…. But stopped his hand before it drew it…

What was he doing? What was wrong with him?


	6. Chapter 6: Lamarred

Chapter 6: Lamaredd

6 months later

"_It appears he is as strong as we suspected."_

"_Indeed…this is unexpected. He is not a Jedi Master?"_

"_No master. He is a mere knight, though his power is… impossible to measure master."_

"_It may be useful to bring him over to us. Continue to monitor him."_

"_At your command, my lord."

* * *

_

Joanna walked calmly into Revan's room as the door wisked open and closed without bidding.

"Hey jo," said Revan somberly. "How you feeling?"

She smiled grimly. "I'm better… it hurts but I'm coping."

Revan nodded. "That's good… the coping part that is."

"How about you," she asked.

He stared at her with a long stare for a moment. "I… I'm ok. I'm having these weird dreams… they're scaring me. I think they're visions. They're slowly making more and more sense to me… I hope to understand them eventually…" He looked back down at his datapad, the topic obviously closed…

Joanna merely stood there awkwardly… he had summoned her to him… and he had nothing to say but ask her a simple question?

"What of the war…" she asked gently.

"You know what it's like… It's getting nasty… they cut our funding so severely, within a year they're likely to be back in the core," he said wearily.

For the first time in a long time Joanna looked at Revan meaningfully… he looked… aged… by what had happened… no doubt he'd sent enough men to their death… but there was a darkness to him now… something that had never been there before…

"What can I do?"

He shuddered lightly. "What I cannot…"

This worried Joanna further… if he could not do it, what chance did she have.

Slowly he reached out for the holoemitter, manipulating it before it came to rest on a planet.

"Onderon," he said simply.

She knew the name… Mandalorians had taken it early in the war, crushed the populace… made them slaves… as near as their intel made out it was a HQ planet for the mandalorians…

And far behind enemy lines… any force sent was unlikely to get reinforcements. Joanna thought she knew what he was asking… but that couldn't be!

"Revan… no, if you do this, you'll need to be there… we'll need you commanding."

He shook his head. "NO… no… I can't. I can barely stand the space battles now, where there are less casualties… ground combat makes me sick… so many deaths… I fear Onderon is going to be a blood bath… and if I go, I will never come back… at least as the Revan you know."

And suddenly she understood… he couldn't take all the death he was causing…

But he was thrusting it unto her.

And as if he could read her thoughts, he said, "I know putting this into your hands is the most horrible thing I could ever do… but… but I need someone I trust… If you don't want to, there are others… I'll find someone. I'll even go." But he said it with such morbidness that she just couldn't do it to him. He'd been there for her every step of the way. Time for her to repay some of that.

She shook her head. "I am here to help Revan… I will shoulder this responsibility. You have done so much for me… time to repay you."

Revan breathed a sigh of relied, as if a great weight had been lifted from him. "Thank you so much… But there is no debt. You owe me nothing." She nodded once to him, and then Revan was all back to business. "Here's the force you'll have," he said as he handed a datapad to her.

She gasped. "This is… this is amazingly large…"

On the datapad, was a list for well over a 1/5 of the republic fleet…

"It's not going to be enough I fear… I fear there will be enough mandalorians that they will tie you down until they can gather reinforcements… I expect you will be met by a large portion of the mandalorian fleet in the sector… and at this time, that means that they'll outnumber you… you don't need to win… you just need to inflict damage. In the meantime, the rest of our forces push forward all across the front."

She nodded slowly. "Very well… I will prepare my forces. When?"

"It will be within 2 standard months… you have at least 6 weeks. More then that, I'm not sure," Revan replied steadily. She bowed, saluted, turned, and walked away…

* * *

"_What have I done?_" Revan asked himself…

For although she would live through this battle… she would be changed by it. Not like he feared he would be changed… she was too strong for that. But she would never be the same. He had doomed her to a life of pain… and been thankful that it had been her instead of him.

What kind of a man was he?

* * *

"Where are we going Revan?" asked Malak fervently behind him. Revan ignored him, continuing onto the small freighter, the _Night's Grace_. He punched in the code for the boarding ramp to lowered, before getting on, Malak scurrying up behind him, and shutting the ramp.

"What a piece of junk! We can fly better Revan!"

Revan grinned lightly. "Piece of junk? This thing is more tricked out then you can imagine. Top and bottom guns are Quad Laser Cannons, shields strengths are at 70000 giggajoules… enough to take 13 or 14 full scale capital ship shots. And we have 2 proton Torpedo launchers, with 16 torpedoes… I'd take this baby over any other freighter created. We'd run faster then em too."

"Well… it sure don't look like much."

"It's not supposed to," snapped back Revan as he locked into the pilots seat and took off.

"So were are we going?" asked Malak again.

"We're searching… for what I'm not sure. But it's out there… on Lamaredd."

"Where's lamaredd?"

Revan glanced at his friend. "Past the outer rim… it's just barely in the 'wild space'. No one really knows whats there… anything that goes out there never returns."

Beside him Malak gulped audibly. "Is this wise then?"

Revan grinned. "Wise? What's the last 'wise' thing I did?"  
Malak laughed lightly at the joke, poor as it may be… it was obvious Revan was nervous as well. But he trusted him. Revan had never been wrong before.

With a flick of a button, the ship entered hyperspace, bound for the planet Lamaredd.

* * *

"_He is seeking us? Does he know?"_

"_Not yet. He won't find us their. But we had so little warning to escape…"_

"_Yes, I see… he may detect traces. It is too early. We need more time."_

"_Yes Master. What are your orders?"_

"_Keep away from him…"

* * *

_

"That's… that's just weird…"

Revan grinned at his friend. "Ugly world ain't it?" Before them was this brown dirtball… for lack of a better term. It was just roundish, and brown… nothing else.

"That's an understatement," replied Malak. He started to rise to use the refresher, but was pushed back down as Revan slammed down on the throttle, pushing it to full from idle. "What's the…" He stopped short as the ship rocked from laser blasts. "Son of a… I'll hit the top turret."

With that he took off running like a kid in a candy store… he was gonna enjoy this.

* * *

Revan shook his head. Malak had no idea how close they'd come to getting seriously pounded. The 4 ships had come from no where, and had all launched 4 proton torpedoes at them… he had narrowly avoided them, even with access to the force.

And of course, there was the issue that Malak seemed to enjoy killing… not a good sign. However, he could worry about that later. These fighters were powerful, and their pilots good… this could be nasty.

He called up what sort of ships they were, but the computer couldn't identify them. They had 6 laser cannons, 2 torpedo launchers, and decent shields… that was all the computer could tell him. He banked right, and put the ship into a roll as he closed in behind one of the fighters. It didn't take long before the lower turret knocked it out, and in the meantime Malak had smoked another fighter… but their shields were taking a beating…

He banked around sharply, unloading two torpedoes into a third fighter, instantly destroying it before turning his attention to the last fighter.

Revan resumed course for the planet as Malak came up behind him. "Geesuz what were those ships. They were strong, and pretty damn good pilots."

Revan nodded. "I'm not sure… maybe when we get back to our fleet we can find out. In the meantime, back to our original task."

Malak shrugged. "Uhhh, what was that?"

"I… I'm not sure yet. I just know we have to go down to the planet."

"Feeling?"

Revan nodded. "Yep… I'd suggest throwing on some armor or something… could be something nasty down there."

He could feel Malak want to brush him off, but he regained himself. "Good idea," he said gruffly as he turned away.

* * *

The ship landed softly, and Revan rose and went to the landing platform. He hit the button to open it, and Malak came striding up behind him, in heavy armor. Revan himself had donned some light echani armor, suitable for quick movement, with enough to at least slow down a blasterbolt or vibroblade… better then nothing.

The door opened, and a gust of cold wind blew in… really cold wind. Not a nice planet this was at all.

Revan walked down the steps purposefully. He realized he wasn't just cold from the environment… he was cold inside. This place screamed of the darkside to him… not just the darkside… it was like the entire planet was dead, hollow…

It scared him.

Malak seemed to not be bothered in the least… as of late, he had grown a bit… more distant from the war. Their anger over the Republics incompetence was great, but that alone wouldn't make someone fall…

Sure, Revan hated the politicians… but he didn't want them dead… Malak was much the same. What was different between the 2 was the way they had been handling the death around them. Revan had retreated from feeling the force… so as the battles carried on, he simply blocked the force… blocked the pain…

Malak on the other hand… he seemed to embrace the force, as if to shield him from the pain with it… but the force conveyed the pain, and so he grew darker… moodier… quicker to anger. Every once in awhile, upon hearing bad news, Malak would snap, his anger welling up and overcoming him. One time he nearly killed a soldier before Revan intervened… Malak did seem sort of sorry, but never actually apologized. Revan noticed that he himself also seemed to have a harder time controlling his temper, and knew it was of the darkside. But he couldn't help himself, and this war HAD to be fought…

Revan continued to walk out… he himself hadn't chosen the landing site. He had been guided here by the force, he was positive…

But the only thing nearby was a small mountain with a cave. Shuddering lightly, he jogged over to the cave.

The feeling within it was less dead… but more dark. He didn't know how to describe it. It didn't leave this complete empty, dead feeling in him. But it seemed to suck the very energy… the very force from him. Taking his lightside energy for something… Dark.

He didn't understand what was going on. Why him? Why was the force using him?

Wouldn't a Jedi master be more suited to this? Surely they would…

But who was he to question the force. Shrugging, he stepped in.

Into the darkness within.


	7. Chapter 7: Ignorance Revealed

Chapter 7: Ignorance Revealed

"_THIS INCOMPETENCE CANNOT BE TOLERATED!"_

"_Master please, they ignored orders…_

"_They were your men… you let them go off and attack him."_

"_Please… master…Ii… I can't breathe… mas…master"_

"_It is too late for you, fool"

* * *

_

The cave was warm… or at least relatively warm. Anything would be warmer then the desert above.

Malak trudged behind him rather loudly, not seeming to care for stealth.

The tunnel into the cave was flat for a ways, but as they went on it started to descend. It was a long walk. They'd been walking for perhaps 15 minutes when Malak at last let out an exasperated cry.

"That's it Revan! Tell me what the hell we're doing here."

"I told you, I don't know… and could you be ANY louder?" he asked incredulously as the sound echoed deep into the cave.

Malak laughed. "What could possibly take us? We're the two most powerful jedi in the universe. I think we could feel in anything was up ahead."

Revan just shook his head and turned back to the path. Malak wouldn't understand… or even if he did he'd never believe him. The sheer ignorance of him amazed Revan…

"Fine, just go on without me. I'll wait here for you to come back."

"Just head back to the ship than Malak… it's nicer their."

He felt Malak shrug through the force. "You're the boss." He walked off… or rather, stomped off, loudly, the sound carrying for quite some ways.

Noting this, Revan continued deeper.

* * *

He was coming this way…

This was bad. If he found him, he'd be killed for sure… if not by this Jedi then by his master… why had he ever agreed to stay behind and watch… possibly even communicate with… this Jedi… why!

He was in a large round break in the narrow tunnel of the cave. There were plenty of hiding spots, and he was powerful in the art of masking his aura, but the Jedi was powerful. As he got closer, he was more and more likely to detect him… The fear grew within him, and he used it to fuel his control of the force.

God he hoped he didn't have to do anything with the Jedi.

* * *

Revan walked silently into the large cavern. Something in it felt… different. Something told him that whatever he was looking for was here…

He scanned it… on the right was a small pool of water. Down the center was a large pillar, and around that, he assumed the cave tunnel continued. On the left was a rock formation of catacombs… easy for something to hide in there…

He walked over to the water, looking into it, but seeing nothing he continued around. As he thought, the tunnel continued… so searching the catacombs it was.

He entered it cautiously, lightsaber drawn though not lit… pretty easy to be ambushed in these catacombs. He crept silently along, turning left and right, searching in every direction. It seemed the maze was infinitely confusing, and even with force memory he couldn't really get a handle of the maze. Thankfully, there hadn't been an ambush or anything…

As if summoned around a corner, a figure appeared. Igniting his saber, and without waiting, he slashed through it… but met no resistance.

* * *

He flinched involuntary as he saw through force sight the Jedi slice the hologram amazingly fast…

That could have been him! This was crazy! He had been told to leave the hologram set up, and that depending upon how powerful he thought the Jedi was, he could have it play 1 of the 2 message options. It was activaetable by remote, and having made his decision, he pressed the second button.

* * *

The figure didn't respond to his slash, but he instantly knew why… it was a hologram. The figure was shrouded in black, and he hadn't a clue what it was… he was about to continue his search when it began speaking.

"Greetings, Jedi." It had a dark, deep, old voice… like one that would fail at anytime. "I see you have made your way to this place. And that apparently you are powerful… powerful enough to make one of my apprentices fear you. You have incredibly potential. You waste it horribly right now. I think we both know what I'm talking about. However, that is a discussion for another time… for now, there is something else. An apprentice is in the catacombs with you. He is there to kill you, and if you flee without doing battle with him, he will summon in a fleet. In fact, if you fail to kill him, he will summon a fleet in and crush you… you'll have to find him first… so I suggest you do something about this… We will talk later Jedi." With that it winked out in front of him. He didn't have a clue what it was talking about, but he knew what he had to do…

"Come out, come out, wherever you are… lets get this over with," said Revan calmly.

* * *

Oh god! This was bad! His master had betrayed him… he couldn't help himself from shaking in fear… he was dead…

What was he going to do?

He felt the Jedi's power flare… his power redoubled, to such a level that he couldn't even believe… his master was still greater, but not by much… But there was no way he could hide from that!

"PLEASE! Please don't kill me; what he said was a lie! A lie! I was told to merely observe you!"

Though he was nearly 300 meters away, the Jedi arrived at him within a few seconds, saber at the ready.

* * *

Revan hesitated in front of the warrior… what could he do? "I don't think I can trust that…"

"Please… please, feel me out. Use the force; I will open myself to you." And he did… it was strange. He felt different, dark. The man in front of him was also shrouded in black, heavy robes. His face not visible, hidden behind a mask… he was as tall as Revan, though skinny… something was different in him.

He felt him out, but he couldn't pull anything but the emotion of fear from him, as well as a sense of darkness. "I can't... I can't sense anything," he said simply.

The man in front of him gaped for a moment.

Finally he closed his mouth and raised his saber. "My master has betrayed me… but I won't go down without a fight." With that, the man moved to attack him.

The man was decent enough. His skill with the saber wasn't great, but his mastery over the force was incredible… anytime Revan had a chance to do something, the figure would manage to stop him via a dark force power…

Of course, Revan only had his one blade out, and at any time he could pull his second saber and use his own force powers to crush him…

But as he fought this dark apprentice, he learned…

And as he learned, he realized something…

"Stop… I do not wish to fight anymore," Revan said quietly between blows.

Across from him the figure nodded, breathing heavily, compared to Revan's apparent lack of trouble.

"Instead, I wish to talk."  
The figure grunted. "Talk about what?"

"I have questions…"

The figure shrugged. "My master has betrayed me… I will tell some. But I will not betray my people completely… I will answer what I will, and then we will resume, and you will kill me…"

Revan nodded, and began to ask.

* * *

Malak felt him before he saw him. He had been snoozing on the couch of the Ebon Hawk when he felt Revan approaching the ship, and in an apparent hurry. Yawning loudly, he stumbled over to the rap controls and tapped them open. The burst of cold wind woke him up slightly, so he wasn't completely out of it when Revan sprinted up, slammed the door shut and ran to the cockpit.

"Wha… Whas going on?" he asked sleepily.

"We're leaving. Get strapped in," replied Revan tightly. Complying with Revan's wishes, Malak strapped in quietly. His friend seemed different… scared you could almost say. Quickly, Revan brought the ship up and took off.

* * *

Thrusting her saber quickly to the left, she blocked the blow from her opponent. However, her opponent has anticipated in this, so disengaged and pushed in. Rolling away, she twirled her saber defensively, using a force push to push her opponent away. He fell heavily to the floor before slapping the ground twice, signaling an end to the combat.

"Good job Bastilla, excellent work," said Master Roke, breathing heavily as he brought himself to his feet.

Sweat dripping from her bangs into her eyes, and panting for breath, Bastilla merely nodded in thanks.

"I thought I had you for a moment, but that was a very nice finishing move. I didn't expect that force push. However, you left your guard fairly open when you did it. If I had of have been more prepared, I may of not been knocked down by the force blow, and you could have been in trouble."

"I see master. I will attempt to fix that," she replied softly.

Roke nodded. "Fantastic… that's enough for today. Go clean up."

Bowing, Bastilla smirked slightly as Roke walked away, before just flopping down to the ground, her slender figure spreading out exhausted.

Sighing, she shifted to a more comfortable position. She was glad that she had Roke as a master. He was incredibly skilled, in both the force and the saber, but most importantly he understood her. She had thought she'd kept her anger, her rage, hidden, but Roke had detected it… called her out on it. He had talked her through it, and she no longer hated Revan. He was merely a fool, one who she shouldn't care about. Within days of this realization, she had accelerated far ahead of where she once was, as doors opened to her, allowing her powers to grow.

No longer did she care for Revan… he would pass soon, she was sure. A fool like that was likely to bite off more then he could chew…

"_Bon appetite!_" she thought smugly before rising and heading to the refresher.


	8. Chapter 8: Faith

**Ok, so I actually have had 2 chapter written for... well since I last updated. Just never posted em cause of lack o reviews. So I'll let this one leak out and maybe the next one... please review... you're crushing my spirit here...**

Chapter 8: Faith

"_He has come and gone Master. Whatever it was he was there for, he found it."_

"_He has found out a great more than I expected. The apprentice sent there was weak."_

"_It is of nothing to us. We will sweep aside their armies and the Jedi, with or without him!"

* * *

_

"REPORT!" screamed Joanna over the klaxons. "And shut off those damn alarms!" The ship shook again as it was rocked by yet another blast.

"Ma'am, 3 mandalorian Battleships have all shifted on us. We can't take much more!"

"Bring up the _Redemption_ and the _Crusader_. Stick them in between us and them if u have to. Have Cluster C begin its arrow, D support it. A and B, hold positions," she replied quickly as the klaxons at last shut off.

Joanna watching in awe as a mandalorian fighter flew by the bridge, hotly chased by a pair of Republic _Minotaur_ class fighters. This was worse then she'd expected. Thousands were dying every minute up here… the fight had been going on for over 5 hours, and no end was in sight. There were simply so many ships, fire in any direction and you were likely to hit a ship…

Again the ship rocked, as the shields failed them at last. Thankfully, the _Redemption_ at last slid in between them and the mandalorian battleships, buying them a respite. More fortunately, the counter by Cluster C was forcing the mandalorians to back off to support they're lines…

A much smaller than expected force had been encountered, but they were some of the most elite mandalorians troops out there… It was brutal, but Joanna had at last made enough of a hole to start getting men to the ground. Onderon itself wasn't that heavily defended, and they'd already managed to recapture it for the most part… but the moon of Dxun, millions were dying every minute… she should be down there, helping. The force screamed at her as a plasma bomb detonated on the surface of Dxun… easily a million died in that single blast, and Joanna collapsed to the ground under the sudden weight of they're deaths, as the force cried out to her, and the hundreds of echoes reached into her soul, flaying her.

"Ma'am?" asked a nearby orderly.

"I… I'm fine. Admiral, you have command. I need… need a break."

"Yes Ma'am."

With that she turned and strode out, hurrying to her room quickly as she could… She couldn't take this anymore, and she didn't want to break down in front of the men…

Running by the end of it, she slammed the door to her mostly sound tight room, just in time to feel another plasma bomb explode, wiping out more men, and letting loose a loud scream of pain, both in the force and from her lungs.

Tears rained from her eyes as she collapsed to the floor.

"I ca… can't take this anymore. Make it stop. Please, anything… Revan I can't do this for you…"  
Huddling into a ball, she cried and cried, before at last falling asleep to the yells of dying men in her head.

* * *

The death… he could smell it… it was all around him… 

It permeated into him… made him feel sick…

"Here they come again!" yelled out the master sergeant above him.

Slowly the soldier raised his head, seeing the mandalorians charge. He rose up slightly, opening fire, letting blast after blast loose as his comrades beside him opened up as well…

Still they kept coming… their return fire ripping into the republic ranks as they closed to vibroblade range… Quickly, glancing down, he saw his vibroblade lay in its holster ready…

Those bastard jedi's… leaving them to fight this war… they sat by the side and professed patience while other died. Thank god some of them came and helped, thrown out of the order as they may be. The question he had for himself was why was he helping… he should flee… his aim faltered as he missed several shots in a row…

Concentrate man, concentrate, he said to himself…

10 meters… 5 meters…

He dropped his blaster, pulling his sword out as he parried the first mandalorians blade, pushing him back. He continued to battle with the mandalorian, holding his own, but it was a losing battle… step by step he gave ground, until at last, his hands numb, his blade was knocked from his hands…

He stared into the mandalorians black visor, determined to die like a man…

Suddenly the mandalorians back arched up, a green blade coming from his chest. Slowly, he dropped, to reveal a women holding a lightsaber…

Nay, a beautiful jedi holding a lightsaber. They're eyes met, and just as suddenly she turned, returning to the battle…

He would remember those eyes… something told him they'd meet again.

* * *

Joanna was slightly disturbed by the look the soldier she had saved gave her, but she ignored it as she returned to the battle, slicing through the mandalorians. Her rage and anger over what they had done had become a weapon for her … using it sparingly, controlling it tightly, merely using it to add the slightest of power to her… darkside as it was, it helped immensely. 

She has come down to the ground after her… outburst, and partaking in the ground combat seemed to make her feel better. The battle in space above was going well… massive casualties on both sides, but the mandalorians had pulled back for awhile.

Over 9 million republic men had landed on her orders, and they were getting slaughtered by the 4 million mandalorians… she wasn't sure how more she could take before she just snapped…

The eyes of that soldier were still on her… but she shrugged it off, as more mandalorians charged and the soldiers attentions moved on.

* * *

The space battle continued for a long time, but after 2 day of hard fighting, the mandalorian ships had at last been crushed. On the ground, things had not gone so well. The mandalorians slaughtered wave after wave of troops, and idiotic generals had sent men to charge through minefields to clear the path, and wouldn't listen to her orders… 

And then the men started listening to the generals… and they all died.

At last something gave, and all that remained of her forces were a few hundred jedi and 6-7 thousand troops, in a heavily fortified fortress, surrounded by mandalorians. Thankfully, fleet ships arrive just in time to evac them…

But the moon was a lost cause. Nearly 9 million republic men dead for something like 3 million mandalorians…

Jo's head ached from everything… the pressures of command, the lack of sleep… but most of all the deaths… the screaming voices…

Sighing, she lay back and began to sleep. No mandalorian reinforcements had arrived, so they were bombarding Dxun as best as they could, while waiting for republic reinforcements…

What she needed was rest…

And when at last she fell to sleep, relief was not hers, as her dreams were just as horrible as her days.

* * *

It was done… 

Revan could feel it through the force. Joanna had taken the world, but at a terrible cost… no only in terms of men and ships, but in terms of sacrifices she had to make…

He wished he was that strong… he would have lost his mind going through that… instead she merely continued on, and he was sure that unknown to her, a small fracture in her Force Aura was beginning to appear.

Sighing, he rose from his desk. The news he had received from that… sith for a lack of a better word was disturbing… he didn't know what to do anymore. He would have to go out and meet them in battle…

Disturbed by this thought, Revan returned to looking over the general war. This recent push had been a massive success, far greater then he'd anticipated. A complete mandalorian route. He had to capitalize on this, and quickly…

There were under a score of worlds left, and slowly, a plan began to form.

* * *

2 months later 

"Joanna, welcome back," said Revan quietly but happily as he met her as she descended the ramp from her freighter. "How was you're break?"

She sighed happily. "It was just what I needed after… you know… Anyways, I'm fit as a fiddle and ready to serve."

Revan grinned broadly as they walked towards his office. "Excellent, just in time… As I'm sure you've heard, the mandalaorians are being brutally crushed… as nearly as intel can tell, we've pushed them back to a final planet."

"That's great news!" replied Joanna happily.

"Well… it's not all great news… the mandalorians have formed up there, their entire fleet… this is going to be the largest battle in the history of the republic."

Revan saw a flash of fear go through Joanna's eyes, but she smothered it quickly, even as Revan closed the door to his office. "Sounds like a bloody battle."

Revan nodded slowly, sadly. "That it will Jo… it will be a bloodbath like never before."

Joanna smiled nervously, obviously uncomfortable. Revan noticed this… and realized how painful this will be for her.

"Jo… this will be the final battle… more will die here then in the entire war… I wish it weren't like this… I wish what was to come didn't have to happen. That you never would have gone through what u went through. I just want to thank you for all your sacrifices, and the strength you've lent to me. You're like a sister to me," Revan said sadly as he stepped up and kissed her gently on the forehead before striding out, leaving a very surprised Joanna behind him.

She stood shocked for a moment, before turning and following him, wondering what it was all about.


	9. Chapter 9: Malachor

Extremely short, but it had to be done.

* * *

Chapter 9: Malachor 

"_Master, the Mandalorians failed. Revan will finish them."_

"_That is of no surprise… he is stronger then we anticipated. He will come for us next."_

"_Master?"_

"_We shall wait and see, my apprentice."

* * *

_

The _Tedevium_ was silent amid the battle raging among them. At least on the bridge. No orders were shouted, no reports or alarms ringing. Everyone merely sat and waited…

Joanna stood in front of the holoprojector, waiting for the message. It needed to come soon. Before the Mass Gravity Generator was activated, all the men had to be evacuated… but Revan was waiting for the right time… what she didn't know.

Suddenly it flared to life. "Joanna, quickly, activate the Generator."

"But the men! I can't!"

"Joanna, there's no time. They've discovered them somehow. It's now or never! I leave it in your hands!"

With that he winked out, leaving Joanna standing there, biting her lip, hand poised over the activation button…

The bridge crew turned to look at her, a silent audience…

Blood began to dribble from her lip.

"Doom millions of soldiers if I activate it…. but doom millions if I don't," she said simply, as she realized what choice she had made. Her eyes began to water, as she pushed the button…

* * *

A brilliant blast was all that could be seen… Malachor itself imploded into nothingness, then exploded back out into millions of pieces, held together at the center by an unknown force… 

50 million republic soldiers perished… thousands of ships destroyed…

Millions more of Mandalorians fell…

The echo created in the force was deafening, and all across the universe, anyone attuned to the force felt the staggering implications of it… one more than any other…

* * *

The moment after it exploded, Joanna immediately felt millions of voices. Fear filled her as she worried that she would go insane. The screams, everywhere… she broke out screaming herself, and fell to her knees, clutching her head. 

The crew made no move to help her, shocked at what had occurred…

And there she lay for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, wracking with sobs, the crew still shocked… At last she rose, and stumbled away, deaf to the voices at last…

* * *

The Mandalorians surrendered with minutes of the generator going off. Their ships heavily damaged, few in number. They would have merely been swept aside. 

Revan sighed as he felt Joanna's echo within the force fly out… alas the pain that was caused to her was necessary… for what he didn't know. Her connection was gone, there was little doubt of that, and she would be of no use in a war again. She was done with battle… done with him she could see. He would send her back to the council, that they may help her through this tough time. She would suffer, but she was strong. She would be a great power in the future…

However, that was not the present. Now he had to take as much of the fleet as he could and seek out the Sith. For they were out there… there was no doubt of that left in his mind. They had encouraged the Mandalorians to attack, in an attempt to weaken the republic that they may sweep in. Now it was time to show them the error of their ways.

He would crush them, using the death they caused to fuel him…

He slapped himself lightly, bringing himself down from his thoughts… that wasn't him. Those thoughts were of…

He wouldn't… couldn't fall… but the Sith must die…

* * *

Thanks for the reviews guys. And brazillian sith lord, yes, it is moving fast. While I had originally intended to make a long 'epic' sorta tale, I just found that I couldn't do it. I found myself continuously rushing forward, skipping past things I would have wanted in a longer epic story. So I decided that it would be better if I kept it smaller, addressing the key events. That's why this is ending up to be a much smaller story then I envisioned. And besides, the mandalorian wars were the minor part of this in my mind. There are other fics on this. There are much fewer fics on the actual fall. And thanks for the advice. While I haven't put any advice into this chapter, as it was actually written before I saw your chapter 7 review (I am usually a few chapters ahead of what I publish so I can change stuff I don't like), and I chose to not change anything in it.


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